Ethernet is a widely used family of frame-based computer networking technologies for local area networks (LANs). It defines a number of wiring and signaling standards for the Physical Layer of the OSI networking model, through means of network access at the Media Access Control (MAC)/Data Link Layer, and a common addressing format. Ethernet is standardized by the organization IEEE, currently under IEEE 802.
Ethernet-based networks expand beyond traditional geographical boundaries and the number of users grows rapidly. Thus, there is also a significant increase in the number of network devices or nodes used in these networks. Each network device that is added to an Ethernet network needs to be configured and have services provisioned to it. This procedure is associated with an operating expenditure.
To correctly configure a new network device, the network administrator needs to be aware of where, topologically and geographically, the new device is located. There may also be a need to configure the OSS (Operations Support System) and/or NMS (Network Management System) with the new network device. This becomes a time consuming and tedious task that opens the door to human error and additional operating expenditures.
Discovery, configuration, and provisioning of new network devices can be performed manually, e.g. by having a technician go to the field to configure the new network device, and possibly also the OSS/NMS, via a CLI (Command-Line Interface) or GUI (Graphical User Interface). Alternatively, some level of automation can be achieved by applying non-standardized methods. However, the proprietary methods are often restricted to a particular vendor.
Clearly, manual update of topology aware entities/systems associated with Ethernet networks is error prone and time consuming, and is especially difficult during a large network rollout.